A former Miss Kansas is accused of committing a grizzly "murder."
That's "grizzly." Not "grisly."
Theresa Vail, a former Miss Kansas who hosts an Outdoor Channel adventure show, illegally shot an Alaska grizzly bear and conspired to cover up the violation, according to charges filed in a rural state court.
Vail, 25, the star of “Limitless With Theresa Vail,” is charged with killing a grizzly bear in May without possessing a state bear tag for the animal.
Investigators say she held a single bear tag and shot a male grizzly bear, attempted to kill it with a second shot, and instead fired and killed a second bear, a sow grizzly.
Vail is from Leavenworth and attended Kansas State.
She is also is charged with unsworn falsification, another misdemeanor.
Prosecutor Aaron Peterson in a criminal complaint said Vail signed and backdated a big-game tag record to make it appear she had purchased the tag before shooting the bear.
Also charged in the case are master guide Michael Wade Renfro, 46, and assistant guide Joseph Andrew Miller, 45.
They conspired to cover up Vail’s violation by obtaining the second bear tag after the bears died and submitted wrong information to game authorities, charging documents say.
Tom Caraccioli, director of communications for the Outdoor Sportsman Group networks, said in an e-mail that the Outdoor Channel is committed to legal and ethical hunting.
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